Man, those Heat are getting a whole junk load of players , and now rumor has it that Pat Riley is trying to get The Glove, Gary Payton. You can even check for yourself it the 3rd articl on NBA Daily on nba.com

I read that too this morning. Riles is digging deep in the buckets to make a pre-hall of fame team like Mitch Cupcake tried to do with the Lakers 2 years ago. A bunch of egos that will struggle initially and then peak cruising toward the best record and then crash and burn in the end with coach Ron Jeremy taking all of the blame:eyebrows:

...they still need a shooter.

coach Ron Jeremy

lol. Wow. They actually do look similar. I never saw the resemblance prior to your comment.

You're really right about that because J.Will can't shoot that well, and Gary could before until he got older. So I would have been more worried if they had the Joneses because they had a really good outside shot. Also the Lakers could barely get 1 win over The Pistons doing the exact same thing Miami is doing right now, and with Shaq getting older some people I say we should kill the Heat.

You're really right about that because J.Will can't shoot that well, and Gary could before until he got older. So I would have been more worried if they had the Joneses because they had a really good outside shot. Also the Lakers could barely get 1 win over The Pistons doing the exact same thing Miami is doing right now, and with Shaq getting older some people I say we should kill the Heat.

Garry Payton? The glove now has a hole in it. He is not much help these days. I totally agree.

Offhand I think Payton is going to be 38 next season. May be usefull for 5-10 mins off the bench but I can't see how he will help them against the Pistons given the Lakers series.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/4894298

Are you serious the Miami Lakers are about to get GP. Ooops did I say lakers because it looks to me they are making the same mistake LA did.

:nono: Are you serious the Miami Lakers are about to get GP. Ooops did I say lakers because it looks to me they are making the same mistake LA did.

Too many cooks in the kitchen.:doh: Should we be looking for a Karl Malone signing soon?? What a joke.

Man I'm starting to feel real good about us verse Miami. The chasing the ring thing NEVER works. While I like Payton, I think he is the straw that breaks the camel's back in terms of chemistry. As stated earlier, Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen.

Lakers, Lakers, Lakers...

I don't get it. Payton does not bring that much at this stage of his career. Riley seems to want Showtime but Showtime could play defense in the 80s--they could lock down when they needed it.

GP is being brought in to push Williams and be a backup point. As a backup, he's a solid acquisition. He's not being brought in to start unless Williams falters.

Or maybe he is part of the Heat loading up for a mid-season trade...

GP is being brought in to push Williams and be a backup point. As a backup, he's a solid acquisition. He's not being brought in to start unless Williams falters.

Or maybe he is part of the Heat loading up for a mid-season trade...

Who do you think they might trade for?

Its comforting knowing that every second that Payton is on, we'll have a known and proven good defender on him in either Chauncey or Hunter. Chauncey made mince meat out of Payton in the 2003-2004 Lakers, but then again Payton MAY have been tired all season from playing and keeping the Lakers where they should've been.

Who do you think they might trade for?
Just loading up salaries of veteran players. They have the money to spend, so they load up which will give them options at the deadline.

I think he makes Miami better. He plays way better D than J Will. I don't give a shhhh how old he is. His numbers are actually better than J-Will's by a little bit on offense, too. People say they're not worried about the Miami and the moves they've made. I'm worried about it. A lot. I think Riley has made some aggressive moves. I like a GM that doesn't stand pat. Will all the moves blow up? Who can say? The Pistons, on the other hand, rather than bringing in a solid veteran contributor, are hoping a bench of unprovens can bolster a solid core. Should be an interesting season. I don't believe in ever standing pat. For example, if you like your current job, does that mean you should stop looking for a better one? Nope. San Antonio doesn't take that approach, why should Detroit? The Spurs improved themselves most likely. Did Detroit? We'll see. I'm not in favor of this "stand pat" philosophy, though. Joe D seems to banking on the fact that these bench guys are gonna pan out for a coach, that, frankly nobody knows is all that good.

g-zoo,

You took the words right out of my mouth. I'm not anxious to see if Miami blows up, I'm anxious to see if they gel. Between Miami and Indiana, the Pistons will have their hands full, not to mention the Cavs, Baby Bulls, Sixers and Nets.

San Antonio's GM RC Buford (who works closely with Pop) is one of the best in the league. When they win and reload with vets, that sends a message. Lord knows they are way ahead of the rest of the league when it comes to drafting foreign talent (Parker, Ginobili, Oberto, Scola).

GP may not be all that anymore, but he's still better than most of the backup PGs in the league. People keep underestimating Miami. I hope that is not a mistake.

People keep underestimating Miami.

Which people are you referring to? Everywhere I read, the Heat are favored to either win the East or win it all.

I think he makes Miami better. He plays way better D than J Will. I don't give a shhhh how old he is. His numbers are actually better than J-Will's by a little bit on offense, too. People say they're not worried about the Miami and the moves they've made. I'm worried about it. A lot. I think Riley has made some aggressive moves. I like a GM that doesn't stand pat. Will all the moves blow up? Who can say? The Pistons, on the other hand, rather than bringing in a solid veteran contributor, are hoping a bench of unprovens can bolster a solid core. Should be an interesting season. I don't believe in ever standing pat. For example, if you like your current job, does that mean you should stop looking for a better one? Nope. San Antonio doesn't take that approach, why should Detroit? The Spurs improved themselves most likely. Did Detroit? We'll see. I'm not in favor of this "stand pat" philosophy, though. Joe D seems to banking on the fact that these bench guys are gonna pan out for a coach, that, frankly nobody knows is all that good.

I tend to agree with your statements. Compared to previous years I found this past offseason "uneventful" so to speak. We really did nothing to make our team AGRESSIVELY better. The saving grace is that we know that with a limited rotation at the bare minimum we still have one of the best starting fives in the league. But, I still believe there is reason to be optimistic. There are two ways to look at this:

Joey D. has gotten away from his existing formula of agressively finding talent that gives us an obvious potential edge against our competition
Joey D. is continuing his formula of investing into those players he has confidence in with the thought that they will materialize into something special. Joey showed excellent patience with Tayshaun and Memo. He also took a risk with Chauncey who up to that point only had a productive playoff series under his belt.I think Joe has earned the privilege for us to have confidence in his decision making skills and believe that the latter is the case. Joe has done an excellent job of getting rid of talent that doesn't benefit/strengthen team chemistry in the past. That's why there is no Rodney White. We have yet to reep the benefits of the Arroyo, Darko and Delfino acquisitions. Perhaps this is Joe giving them a decent shot. The addition of another big name talent is not a vote of confidence for potentially one of these players.

That said, my only question mark is just how well Maurice Evans will integrate into our scheme. If our previous untapped talent begins to show promise, I think it will be at the expense of Evans's minutes. I expect to see Tay and Delfino shifted to the two spot at times if Darko becomes a mainstay in the reserve lineup. I think Darko is agile enough to play the 3 at times which makes for some BIG lineup possibilities.

Again, I can't wait till the season unfolds so we can get some of these questions answered.

Miami and San Antonio do need to be congratulated for their agressive offseason. Realistically, I am more concerned with how we marraige our players with our coach than trying to figure out if Miami's team will gel together. In all honesty, I hope that they do gel. I want Detroit to face the strongest competiton possible. That way when we persevere there will be no doubting our legacy.

Which people are you referring to? Everywhere I read, the Heat are favored to either win the East or win it all.
For instance, I was just reading at Hoopshype, and this is a small quote from the piece.


The challenge will be to get them all working together as a cohesive unit. That challenge just became greater with the addition of Payton. This relic of 90’s basketball is more likely to set the Heat back than get them to the Finals. The Detroit Pistons are still the best team not wearing black and silver.


I read stuff like this on forums regularly. Miami can't do it, not enough balls to go around, Shaq is too old, Shaq is too out of shape, Antoine Walker and JWill are timebombs etc.

You know, people. Just everyday people. ;)

i like this from espn page 2:

'If nothing else, the Miami Heat have assembled the NBA's most impressive "All-Name" roster since the last time Payton joined a would-be title contender in L.A. And we all know how that turned out.'

i like this from espn page 2:

'If nothing else, the Miami Heat have assembled the NBA's most impressive "All-Name" roster since the last time Payton joined a would-be title contender in L.A. And we all know how that turned out.'
Except Dwyane Wade is not Kobe Bryant and this Heat team is twice as deep. ;)

Yes, I am afraid/concerned about Miami. I was last year. I still think that playing Miami cost us vs. SA because we were tired. And, on paper, they may blow people away. But if you really look at it, they are scary for the same reason they were scary last year: Shaq and to some extent, Wade. We had trouble guarding those two guys. And really, it boils down to Shaq and his backup, Mourning. If you look at their pick-ups (I don't know Posey's game), they are not guys that I would want on the Pistons. Walker? I will say that at least he can rebound some. J. Williams? Not on my team. Payton? He stunk over here on the Lakers--I watched him all season. He is not the marvelous player that he was on Seattle. A big question is can Evans guard Wade some and can our greater depth in our front line help Ben with Shaq? Will we still need EC? Can our offense begin to resemble a threatening, modern NBA (with a little bit of western influence--the only thing they do well in the West is offense) offense or do we still need a scorer? If some of these last things take hold, the Pistons are still the team to beat. I really wanted Finley on Miami because I wanted them locked in for this year. I don't like the idea that they may make moves later.

gp aint what he use to be
it makes a nice little rhyme lol :):nod:

Except Dwyane Wade is not Kobe Bryant and this Heat team is twice as deep. ;)

You know why Wade, and Ginobili did so much better than Kobe did against us? Its because Tayshaun was worn out, and he couldn't play his stellar defense the way he usually does. The Prince needs to come in to training camp this coming season, and be ready for the tough road to winning a championship.

You know why Wade, and Ginobili did so much better than Kobe did against us? Its because Tayshaun was worn out, and he couldn't play his stellar defense the way he usually does. The Prince needs to come in to training camp this coming season, and be ready for the tough road to winning a championship.
Actually, I don't think that Prince is very good at denying dribble penetration against fast guards with slick handles.

Kobe got caught up in chucking a lot of jumpers which plays right into Tay's length.

Wade had no problem embarassing Larry Hughes in the Washington series. He is that good and so is Ginobili.

I was so tempted to come to bat for the Heat on this thread, but Micro you seem to have covered all the bases very well. Good Job!! Sounds like a man that knows his basketball thats for sure.